Bankers view digital technologies as crucial for growth

One of the biggest names in the financial services industry, Mastercard, is in the cloud. The New York-based provider of credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid cards and commercial and consulting services uses the cloud for several enterprise applications. And it’s far from alone.

Financial companies are now actively pursuing digital technologies to drive business efficiencies and ensure success in the marketplace with an eye on market influence and meeting consumer demand.

So says a recent survey and report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) sponsored by DXC. The report, “What Makes Digital Leaders: A Full C-Suite Perspective,” notes that 88% of financial services respondents said that all functions, from strategy to finance to customer service, are “mostly or entirely digital.”

The high adoption rate makes the financial industry a trailblazer.

Financial services companies today believe that digital technologies and IT itself are crucial to success. These enterprises are implementing technology more aggressively than in other industries.

According to the survey, cloud investment is huge for this market, with 98% claiming to currently use a private cloud and 46% expecting to increase their use of this technology over the next three years.

The DXC-sponsored survey also found that banks and capital market firms continue to use traditional technologies more than other industries. For example, 39% say they will increase the use of on-premises servers, and 45% say they will increase use of desktop or laptop PCs, compared with 26% and 29% of all companies surveyed, respectively.

But next-generation technologies loom large in their plans as well. In the survey, they cite “managing big data and analytics” as their top improvement area over the next three years, followed closely by application modernization and collaboration. While slightly behind the rest of the pack, more than a quarter of bankers say mobility is a capability that needs improving in the next three years in order to meet strategic goals.

Odeabank, a Turkish subsidiary of Bank Audi that’s profiled in the report, has set its sights on mobile technologies. Makes sense since 35% of Turkey’s population is comprised of millennials who often prefer mobile options. Mastercard, another featured company, is using digital technology to keep pace with consumer needs, too.

To learn more about digital technologies across industries, read the seventh annual survey and report, “What Makes Digital Leaders: A Full C-Suite Perspective.” More than 500 C-level and other senior executives participated, both inside and outside of the IT function at hundreds of companies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

V. Balasubramanian is chief technology officer for the Banking & Capital Markets industry at DXC. With experience working in the United States, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, Bala helps to define the solution strategy for the industry, leads subject matter expert teams across industry issues and helps set the technology direction for solutions. He blogs about technology and the banking transformation.